While global warming and its effect on climate change is steadily making its mark on the planet, another concern rises—wildfires, specifically in Southern California and the Greater Los Angeles area. As climate change becomes more drastic, periods of dryness and wetness become more varied and extreme (temperature and precipitation-wise) as they alternate. While very wet seasons are beneficial for crop growth, the consequential dry seasons are even more dangerous in leadings to fires that burn vegetation. As the strong winds, known as Diablo winds in the north and Santa Anas in the south, become drier, its humidity decreases as it descends into California. This lids to an extreme increase in the risk of wildfires starting and rapidly spreading. The influx in carbon dioxide emotions combines with greenhouse gases leads to warmer air, which causes soil and vegetation to become drier and easier to catch on fire. While California is historically used to wildfires in the summer seasons due to dry winds, the expectation of autumn rain in the fall usually snuffs out these fires. However, this period of precipitation has not arrived yet—causing California’s wildfire season to be dangerously extended. Climate change may cause, in the future, less rainfall in the fall, and more in December and January. This is also a dangerous result of global warming, as precipitation is needed to account for the water loss due to evaporation in warming weather. However, some meteorologists believe that the delay of autumn rainfall is due to the recent cooling of pacific ocean waters (known as La Niña), which may have contributed to a ridge of air existing over the Pacific Northwest.

As today’s Skirball Fire and many other wildfires extending over the coming winter depict the devastating impacts of climate change, the effects of global warming are starting to show on the planet. In California, the temperature has generally increased by 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, and will only go up. Global warming has contributed to the drought beginning in 2012, and with wildfires increasing, it’ll have an immense impact on vegetation as well as residents of California. Another reason as to why these wildfires are becoming more severe is due to its impact on California’s growing urban environment. As the state becomes more dense in population, human activities create a heat-island effect—the increase in heat, which reduces summer cloud cover. Cloud cover is very important for vegetation and the need to retain moisture. The increased heat-island effect may be another contributing factor to the extreme wildfires ripping through Southern California. The effect of human activities is increasingly becoming evident, and without drastic measures to cut down on the average human lifestyle, the natural disasters across the planet will only get worse.

 

Fountain, Henry. “In a Warming California, a Future of More Fire.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/07/climate/california-fires-warming.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&_r=0.